Aspects Of Creativity And Intelligence example essay topic

Overall, I believe I scored a bit low on the MENSA "workout". My official score was 17 correct answers out of a possible 30. A bit disappointing indeed. I really did not know what to expect before conducting the test, but when I did it, I was a little disheartened. I do think it was somewhat difficult. However, I did expect to score at least 20 correctly.

There are numerous reasons why I believe I performed at a sub-par level. First of all, I did the test upon waking. I had not eaten or even thought hard about anything. I was still in a somewhat foggy state. Also, there were components on the test that I have always been weak on such as word scrambles word problems. When looking back at items like these on the test, I answered nearly all them incorrectly.

After reviewing the questions a multiple times, I do believe that this "workout" is somewhat culture-biased. Some aspects of this test, I think, are simply irrelevant to some of the worlds diverse cultures. Many of the worlds societies have no experience with some of the types of questions. For instance, I find it hard to believe that eastern cultures place any value on word scrambles. To them, it is just irrelevant. However, America has children doing word scrambles from the first day they enter school.

There even found in every major newspaper across the country. Also, there were a number of word analogies. This goes right along with America's highly valued SAT. I personally have been practicing word analogies since the seventh grade in preparation for the SAT. However, that was the only reason why I was doing them-simply for the SAT. America, I believe, is the only country that takes this test.

Most students have spent tremendous amounts of time practicing these types of questions. But most other students around the world probably do not even know what a word analogy is. When looking back at the MENSA workout, it seems as if it is trying to combine what most people conceive as aspects of creativity and intelligence into each of its questions. For instance, usually high math skills are recognized as a sign of intelligence whereas as creative writing skills are measured by creativity. MENSA combines both.

Although some may perceive MENSA as a I.Q. test, I believe it is not. When searching for the answers, I had to be "creative", so to speak. I had to look in between the lines and devise a method to achieve the answer. This contributed to my sub-standard score. I have never been "creative". Creativity is typically correlated with divergent open-ended cognition, self exploration, philosophical questioning, etc.

I have found myself to be very math and science oriented. Aron's work describes my situation. I have always been achievement-driven and goal-oriented. I do not like searching for the answers which is exactly what I had to do for the MENSA workout. When viewing the document, "Creativity, the Arts, and Madness", one could easily recognize that there is evidence of a link between creativity and madness, especially within the subpopulation of writers, poets, and visual artists.

With high levels of creativity, the study points out that there is an increased rate of depression, dysthymia and bipolar disorder. I have never remotely suffered from any of these disorders in the past nor have I ever seen myself as a "creative" person. I have no immediate or extended family members that suffer from these disorders either. When looking at both of the published papers, I found one common link between them-the defining of the word "creativity" and its relevance to intelligence. Both could not give an accurate description or definition of what creativity actually is or its correlation to intelligence. And how does one measure creativity?

Through productivity or enlightenment and self-actualization? Perhaps we will never know.